Owner operator outlaws

The only ones I'm blaming is the government for passing all these stupid laws that make it sound as if they no my body more than I do... That's rediculous. No one knows me and my body better than I do.

And for BigBadBill, I'm not sure how long you've been driving. But the old man that taught me to drive taught me the most important thing I could have learned.. When your sleepy, then go to sleep. When your not, then drive.

How much safer can you get?

30hrs straight... It's not a normal thing. But i've done it a few times. And when I got sleepy, guess what smarty pants... I pulled over and went to sleep. I've never been the truck stop type. I don't like sitting and waiting on some clock when I'm wide awake..

Sitting in an air conditioned, power stearing, air ride truck with all the modern conveiences like a frig full of home cookin, a microwave, soft drink cooler, XM radio, CB radio..... It's just as easy to make the miles and the money, as it is to sit in your truck twiddling your fingers watching the clock.

30 years ago, when there wasn't much air condition, power steering, air ride or other things to make your day compfy, a 14 hour day was a job. Today it's a cake walk. Especially when your a coast to coast driver.

As I stated earlier, I find that i'm more tired when I'm driving legal all week, than I am when I drive my own way.

That doesn't make me an outlaw or a cowboy. It just makes me independent.

The HOS rules weren't written for safety.. If it was all about safety, then motorhomes and 4wheelers would all have to have log books.

You realize that about 80% of all trucking accidents are the fault of the 4 wheeler... That is until the attorney finds out that your 15 minutes ahead or behind on your log book... Reguardless of what the 4 wheeler had been drinking, smoking or doing when the accident occured...

Your solution is to run legal and forget your independence, your own liberty and your own personal decisions. To just do what the gooberment tells you for the rest of your life...

Well, I don't need to gooberment to hold my hand from cradle to grave. Next thing you know, they'll be telling you how to whipe your arse..

 

[QUOTE No one knows me and my body better than I do.

][/QUOTE]

Ooooooh Lordy, glad you said that not me.

Seriously tho, I do agree with you and your dad. But I do think if you eliminated log books tomorrow the companies would be right back to running drivers to death. We, in general, bring this crap on ourselves by doing stupid ####e.

We live in an imperfect world full of imperfect people. Trouble is we elect the most imperfect of us to run things for us and then act shocked when they FUBAR.

 

Thank you, Thank you, Thank You! I was reading Hrd2luv's post one line at a time (keeps my eyes focused when posts are long lol) and as i got further and further into it, I kept shaking my head NO! and hoping someone would respond politely and say what I was thinking.

I read all posts one line at a time, I meant to say scrolling one line at a time. lol

 

I think your wrong. I think there are soo many driving jobs available that the market wouldn't allow for pushy dispatchers like your thinking..

Besides, if you don't have the back bone to tell your dispatcher that your too tired to run the load, then that's on you. And if you don't want to lose your job, you can always make an anonymous call to the companies insurance company. The insurance company rules who ever it insures.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are some idiot drivers out there. But no matter what law you create, there are going to be accidents...

For example, JB Hunt, Schneider, Swift all monitor their drivers HOS. Guess who has the most wrecks? Those that are monitored the most.

Example of the conversation that needs to take place (Speaking from experience)

Me: (7am) Hey Eddy (dispatcher) I'm running late this morning. I'm not going to be able to make my 8AM app.

Eddy: Why not? Did you break down?

Me. No. I got sleepy and had to take a nap.

eddy: You know we're going to get charged $500 for not making the delivery and resetting the app, don't you?

Me. Yeah, I know.. And I'm sorry about that. But what would you rather me do? Wreck the truck kill myself and possibley others. Have the load & the truck spread out all over the ditch and highway. Blood and guts everywhere. The lawyers and DOT crawling all over your office trying to find out if YOU were pushing your drivers too hard? Or just pay the $500 and reset the app?

Eddy: I see your point.. What's your ETA? I'll call and see if they can take you late, or get a new app.

I'm not perfect, and maybe my third party (Libertarian) vote might seem like a waste to some.. But as it stands, the Libertarians haven't given us any stupid laws, taxes or wars. They are opposed to the CSA 2010, log books and the government restricting how much money we can make.. They stand for an actual free market system. Which creates true competition. And gives a fair shake to the little guy and his chances of success..

It's a good feeling knowing I didn't vote for Obami or McCain.

 

I just knew it!!

 

Hrdtoluv Man ya got me to post! Why I outta.........

 

Any one ever notice it ain't the O/O's who wont chain up for a hill, but the vast majority are company drivers who cry Unsafe UNSAFE and sit on their butts in a truck stop. Of course they are always the first ones who cry about how little their paycheck is LOL.

Just seems like lazy to me.

 

Seriously.. Went into truckstop in wyoming to get my fuel ticket. There were at least 6 company drivers standing there watching the weather channel... I asked "what's going on?"

One replied, "they're about to close the road"

So I replied, "then why are you sitting here? Waiting for them to close the road so you can sit him longer?"............

Most of them had no arguement...

Which was probably a good thing.. I don't want people who are scared to drive in snow, driving in snow...

My point is, not that they were lazy (which might have been part of it), but glad to see that even lazy people have sense enough to NOT drive when they don't feel compfortable with the conditions... And that reassures me, that they've got sense enough to pull over and take a nap when they need one.

So reguardless of what the DOT say, and some of you who like to degrade other truckers as not being as smart as you, most truckers are smart enough to not drive when they don't feel like it..

 

Or they just want to be lazy and lay around a truck stop...

 

What you are saying is true, 4 wheelers cause more accident from not paying attention ,texting, talking on the phone, putting there makeup on, "reading" the paper. while driveing......Yes we are "exspected to be the proffessional"...we can be professional all we want, let just one of these jack wagons , screw up in front of 80,000lbs....its automaticly our fault!!!! Whats wrong with this picture